Pro tip: Don’t do any kind of fasting when you’re scheduled to give blood. Blahhhhhh.

Anyways, let’s talk about the day.

I felt awesome all morning. Remarkably, I wasn’t hungry until about 10am. I got up at 4:45am so I was pretty pleased with that! In fairness though, I’m not usually hungry in the AM unless I drank the night before (the blood sugar impact is REAL).

10:20am:bulletproof coffee made with 1 tbsp butter & 1 tsbp MCT oil. I also chugged a few glasses of water to get prepared for the blood donation.

Sometime later….

Irrrrrrrrritable. Sorry to all my clients who had to interact with me! 😉

11:15am: two large handfuls of macadamia nuts prior to noon blood donation and allllll the water. I easily drank a couple gallons of water before donating. I really think that makes a huge difference in my post-donation recovery.

PSA: If you are able, please donate blood. There is a critical blood shortage in the United States. This is in large part due to the fact that only about 10% of people who are eligible to donate do so. Can you imagine being in the hospital, needing blood to save your life and being told that there isn’t any available? If you expect blood to be available to you when you need it, please donate! Learn more at RedCrossBlood.org.

3:30pm: two mugs of bone broth with salt added. I’m not feeling too hungry but I figured the salt/water would be a good thing after my blood donation. (For more on bone broth, check out this episode of the podcast).

5:12pm: Who said not feeling too hungry?! I’m feeling tired, unfocused and really hungry. It’s interesting though – between the nuts, BP coffee and bone broth, I know my body has sufficient fuel. I’m reminding myself that this is my normal tough time of day. Whether I’m fasting or not, the 3p-6p hours are toughest for me each day. It’s when my motivation, focus, energy and hunger challenge me most.

Because I’m a science geek, I like thinking about what is happening in my body at the cellular level as a result of this fast. Muscle & liver glycogen are being used up to keep my blood sugar steady. Insulin is low. Stress hormones are probably up a bit as a result of the blood donation. Because insulin is low, my body stands ready to burn fat when I use up my muscle & liver glycogen stores.

Call me crazy, but thinking about that helps me stay strong and focused.

6:45pm: I’ve never tried this before, but I blended bone broth with some butter. Probably less than a tablespoon of butter but I wanted some fuel in my system along with the bone broth (which doesn’t contain much energy).

Like I said yesterday – I have a choice in this fast. I can argue for all the reasons not to do it (they exist, for sure) or I can argue for all the reasons to do it. I could talk about how it’s “good enough” to just eat clean. I could argue that I should eat because I gave blood. I could argue that I’ll get results with easier approaches. All true.

Just because they’re true doesn’t mean they’re best.

Or I can argue against those excuses. I can tell myself that it’s good to give my body a break. It’s awesome to prove that I’m stronger than my habitual thoughts. It’s important to keep the promises I make to myself. That I’ll be proud when this is finished. My body deserves a break and I can learn so much along the way.

When I take on the true fast with Ella in March, I know I’ll need to maximize this strategy. I’m thinking I might keep a list of reasons I’m doing it & reasons I’ll be glad I did. When I’m feeling full of excuses, I’ll revisit the list of why.